The volume of digital media content that is distributed electronically continues to increase as digital-content providers utilize the Internet as a vehicle for such distribution. Digital media content may be in the form of, for example, video, audio, text, or any combination thereof, and may be distributed as one or more files or as a data stream.
When a media player, such as RealNetworks' RealPlayer®, renders a digital-media-content file or stream, the player may generate a display window that includes a user interface, and may present the media content within the display window in a specified manner.
The user interface may allow one to specify, at least in part, the manner in which the media player presents the digital media content. For example, the user interface may allow a user to condition all, or a portion of, the sound (e.g., via settings for volume, base, and treble) generated by the media player as it presents audio content. The user interface may also have settings that are not user adjustable, and may have default values for both user-adjustable and non-user-adjustable settings.
In addition, the user interface may display information that is related to the digital media content as the media player is presenting the content. For example, the user interface may display a volume bar having a length that corresponds to the volume of the sound being generated as the media player presents audio content. The settings for such information display may or may not be user adjustable.
A ubiquitous problem is the unauthorized exploitation (e.g., rendering or copying) of digital media content, often in violation of the content creator's rights (e.g., copyright) in the content.
Therefore, digital media content and media players may incorporate digital-rights-management (DRM) capabilities for preventing persons from exploiting the content in an unauthorized manner.
But even with DRM, it may be possible for the creator of an item of media content to lose control over the content as it is exploited by subsequent users. For example, suppose that a woman who has lost a significant amount of weight posts a before-and-after video on a social website that incorporates DRM for allowing only registered users of the website to view the video. It is the woman's intent that her video be viewed only by registered users of the website to inspire them to lose weight. But further suppose that one of the registered users makes and distributes an unprotected copy of the video for altruistic purposes, and that a third party subsequently edits the unprotected copy to create a new video that he uses to advertise his weight-loss product. Therefore, despite the DRM protection on the website to which the creator originally uploaded the video, the third party is able to use the video for commercial purposes without the creator's authorization and without compensating the creator for his commercial use of the video. That is, despite the DRM protection on the original website, the creator has no control over the use of the video once it leaves the website.
Therefore, even when an author or owner of an item of digital media content incorporates DRM (or another form of protection) into the item when he/she creates the item, an item of content may nonetheless be exploited in a manner not authorized by the author or owner of the content item as the content is passed to subsequent users.
Furthermore, even if an author intends to allow use of his item of content in a limited manner as it is distributed from party to party, it may be impractical, or even impossible, to track the item and to monitor and control the use of the item as the item is distributed.
For example, suppose an author desires that an item of his content is rendered with only particular advertisements that he periodically updates to keep current.
As a more specific example, suppose that a film studio may make one of its children's films available for free download as long as the film is rendered only with children-friendly advertisements, and may incorporate DRM into the film file to assure compliance. But suppose that one who downloads the film defeats the DRM to gain access to the film without the studio-provided advertisements, repackages the film with advertisements that are not children friendly, and provides the repackaged film to others for viewing. The studio of the film may never know of this unauthorized use, and, therefore, may be unable to prevent this unauthorized use of its film.
In another example, suppose that a film studio makes one of its children's films available for free download such that the film file includes only trailers for recently released films from the studio. Even if a third party downloads and distributes the film in its original form, at some point the trailers in the distributed version will be out of date, and the studio may have no way of halting the distribution of this version with the out-of-date trailers.